Singapore students Bob and Carina dropped in to say hello to Canning College staff recently.
The pair were among Canning College’s best performing WA Universities’ Foundation Program students last year and are both now studying a Bachelor of Science (Physiotherapy) at Curtin University.
After catching up with Human Biology teacher Simon, we asked if they had any tips for students approaching important exams.
Carina’s response was typically honest and extremely helpful.
Pictured above: Carina (right) with Bob (centre) and Human Biology teacher Simon.
“I think one of the major factors that helped me in my final exam was having revision/study sessions with friends,” Carina said. “During the final lap of the study period, Bob and I would just have a list of questions on the content and test each other on our knowledge. I think that really helped me to gain confidence in the knowledge that I’ve built up, and to really engage with the materials that we were tested on.
“Studying together with other friends has also helped me to consistently revise and relook at the content as well. The group of friends provided encouragement to push on towards the end of exams and a sense of comfort when I was kind of struggling with homesickness as well.”
As many 2021 students are studying online, students can connect with each other using Webex or other video conferencing tools to adopt a similar shared-learning approach.
Carina’s advice also came with a warning about the potential for students to overfocus on school work.
“One thing that I would do differently would probably be to take breaks more often (or when I needed to),” she said.
“I think it is quite easy to get caught up in the pace of things – trying to get as much revision/work done. But I should have gotten out of my study space for some exercise or doing things that I like doing, just to get my mind off studying for a short bit. I think it seems so counterintuitive to do so but breaks and taking care of oneself are so important.”
Wherever our students are in the world, we encourage them to make sure they are balancing hard work with some time away from the rigours of study.
A final word from Carina:
“Wishing the students all the best in their exams, and I hope they’ll learn to just trust the process, and all the hard work that they’ve put into it so far.”
Thank you to Carina for the tips, and good luck to all our students.
